The Wagga Men’s Shed has become the poster shed for the country after being awarded a prestige prize from the Australian Men’s Shed Association.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The team took our the Shed of the Year Award after being encourage by the association to put forward a submission for the prize.
Rick Priest is the original founder of the men’s shed and said he was happily surprised when he found out about the accomplishment.
“There was a conference at the Australian Men’s Shed Association and they asked us if we would make a submission to what we’ve been doing at the shed,” he said.
“So we did, and we apparently just overwhelmed everyone; it was phenomenal. The presentation that our fellas made blew everyone away from what we heard.
“The one thing that got me more than anything else is that it is the Australian Men’s Shed of the Year Award for the whole country, it’s a national achievement.”
The inception of the men’s shed first began at a public meeting at the Wagga council chambers site in 2009.
Initial meetings were held at the showground before the club was given a license to occupy the former Pony Club grounds at the Best Reserve in Ashmont.
The shed prides itself on being an all-inclusive organisation and has a “morning smoko meeting every day with all members” to ensure regular whole-shed mateship and communication.
Peter Quinane took over as president for the club in 2015 and was “over the moon” when he heard about the win.
“The comradery we get from sitting around with the blokes and having a smoko in the morning is incredible,” he said.
“It’s great for everyone and a big thrill to win the award out of a thousand or so sheds across Australia that we were up against.
“The win is great for Wagga really because we get a lot of community support from people in the city.”
The shed offers a myriad of programs ranging from wood work, metal work, beverage fermentation, bee keeping, recycling and even computer workshops to bring seniors up to speed with emerging technologies.
“It’s not until you see it all together that you realise how many things we do and what we’ve done. A lot of local businesses have really helped us out over the years and we appreciate all of their support,” Mr Priest said.